Last snorkeling trip

At 530pm I dragged my dizzy cousin from the room to the jetty. She had insisted that she was too tired and seasick to go snorkeling again, and had changed into a tank top and shorts. I, on the other hand, could not wait to jump right in and see more turtles, hopefully up close and personal this time.

Mi was sitting at the bench facing the jetty as we approached him from behind. He was chatting with another Malay man and smoking a cigarette. The jetty was now dimly lit by the descending sun which was disappearing unto the other side of the island.

The jetty was composed of a stretch of platform that was only 200metres long and extended from the small beach into the shallow waters of the bay. Small boats were parked in the little space between the left side of this pier and the other side of the mountain which jutted out suddenly on the beach, creating a tiny lagoon just enough for a landing spot for Laguna’s boats.

I asked Mi excitedly, “Where’s Eddie? Cherlyn is feeling dizzy and doesn’t feel like snorkeling, can I still go?”

Mi turned to Cherlyn and inspected Cherlyn concernedly, “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes I am fine. I just feel like I’m still bobbing up and down, as though I’m floating in the sea, so I don’t want to snorkel.” Cherlyn reassured him. She had earlier told me that actually, she was more afraid that we’d have to stop and stand on more corals and she had had enough coral cuts, gaping wounds were all over her delicate soles.

Mi turned to me and pointed at one of the boats moored to the jetty, “Eddie is still tidying up his job. He’d be done soon.”

I turned to see Eddie’s head bobbing up and down from behind the boats and waved to him. He spotted me on one of his up-bobs and waved back. Shortly, he called to me to go over to him.

“Hi, are you done?” I asked him keenly.

“Yes, just a moment. Let me get your snorkeling equipment from my boat.” Eddie turned to get my life jacket and goggles, which Cherlyn and I had earlier entrusted to him for safe-keeping so that we wouldn’t need to lug it back and forth.

“Cherlyn is not coming!” I shouted to Eddie as he disappeared under the roof of the boat.

He stuck his head back out, “Why not?”

“She is dizzy from bobbing up and down in the water.” I yelled back, “Is it okay if only two of us went to see the turtles?”


“Sure.”

“Can you also lend me Mi’s flippers? I think I can swim faster in those.” I yelled to Eddie again.
 
“Sure.” He replied and briefly returned with a pair of blue flippers that were his own, a pair of bright yellow fins that were Mi’s and our snorkeling sets.
 
I put on my life jacket and sat down on the stern of one of the boats. Eddie had already put on his flippers by then.
 
I turned to him incredulously, “Do you think I can fit into these?” as I held up Mi’s flippers. The rubber shoe attached looked incredibly small, about woman-size 5.
 
“Of course.” He took one look at my size 7and half feet and nodded confidently.
 
I was baffled. Nonetheless I squeezed my foot into the rubber shoes with a toe hole, with all my might, and with Eddie’s help, and amazingly the rubber stretched until it couldn’t stretch anymore and, Lo! And behold! It was a perfect fit!
 
I held up the flippered foot, looking absolutely stunned, with my mouth hanging half-open in a bemused grin and looked at Eddie. He looked nonchalant and told me to put on the other one.
 
I frowned slightly and struggled with the other foot now, with as much confidence as Eddie had had. Easily, now both feet flippered, I held them up and admired them. I had never worn flippers before and was quite delighted at something so simple, yet it was still my first experience.
 
“Now, you have to show me whether you know how to use them.” Eddie was more concerned with my ability to swim in these cumbersome shoes to an uninitiated. I later found out from Cherlyn that the reason why everybody else did not wear flippers was because they cause cramps in beginners who struggled too hard to flap against the increased water resistant. The bigger surface area of the flipper meant that more power needed to be exerted by the calves to push the fins down against the water. No doubt people can swim faster with bigger fins, but they needed training, otherwise, they would just flounder about and get muscle cramps.
 
“No problem.” I asserted confidently, not knowing anything about flippers at all. I inserted both my legs into the water, still sitting on the low stern of the boat, and flapped.
 
“Good.” Eddie watched for a moment and instantly approved. He put on his goggle and mask and gestured for me to do the same.
 
While I was still struggling to put on my goggles, and wondering how he did it so quickly, Eddie had already jumped into the water with a small ‘plop’ and floated about waiting for me. I followed suit as soon as I was ready.
 
For the first 15 minutes, we swam through milky white opaque waters, with our heads up in order to see where we were going. The boats must have polluted this place until it was impossible to see anything underwater. Fortunately we got out of the murk after only 100 metres away from the coast.